No matter how many leads you have, the answer is still likely to be “more than I’m getting at the moment!”
If you’re targeting more than just organic growth, it will probably require you to win new customers on an ongoing basis.
Yet the reality is that no matter how good your proposition is, some of your competitors’ will be pretty good too. And not every business that you pitch will end up buying from anyone, let alone from you.
One common feature in sales teams that overachieve their sales target is that they have a really strong sales pipeline
The ideal sales pipeline will have opportunities at various stages, from deals you’re forecasting, through to a high number of early-stage opportunities, which will either qualify-out or progress over time.
Quite simply more leads will increase your chance of overachieving, whereas having less will decrease your chance of success.
Hardly rocket science, I hear you say…
Then ask yourself this – if you are genuinely serious about achieving growth, how many leads can you handle? Of course, the answer will always be “more than I’m getting at the moment” but the real question is – how many more?
If the answer is 10%, then you’re probably achieving your sales target, yet are still ambitious for even greater growth and really want to capitalise on the market opportunity.
20-30% more leads? Although there is scope for improvement, your sales team are likely to be fairly busy and you’re regularly winning new customers.
More than 30%? Double even? Then you’re missing out on lots of opportunities to win new business.
The moral of the story is that sales growth doesn’t happen by chance.
It takes a conscious decision and concerted effort.
Having a great story to tell your target market isn’t enough in itself, it all starts with creating leads and building your pipeline.
